The Marcus softball team met its match over the weekend, losing to Plano East 5-0 in Game 3 of the best-of-three Class 5A regional final.

     Plano East, on the strength of starting pitcher Taylor Jones, won the final two games of the series after Marcus out dueled them for a 13-inning 5-1 win in Game 1. Jones struck out two and allowed eight hits in a complete game 8-4 decision on Friday, then returned on Saturday with a five hit shutout.

     “Their pitcher is the heart and soul of that team, she’s really good,” Marcus head coach Christy Tumilty said. “I don’t want it to be understated just how proud I am of my girls being able to make it this far in the playoffs. It’s hard when you are just one win away from going to state.”

     Marcus was playing in its second regional final in three years. Two years ago, they went on to advance to the state tournament for the first time in school history before losing in the first round. They were the clear favorite this season as Plano East was a mere fourth seed in its district coming into playoffs and had the unenviable task of trying to beat a team that hadn’t lost since April 22 – a span of eight games if you count the Game 1 victory.

     Not to mention the fact Marcus’ offense had been on point throughout the postseason and its pitching and defense had three playoff shutouts.

     But Plano East ended up with the upper hand. The key proved to be situations in both Games 2 and 3 where Marcus had the bases loaded and couldn’t convert. In Game 3, for example, Marcus loaded the bases in the third inning with one out. But Jones came back to strike out Marcus’ Heather Foust and got standout Sarah Draheim to ground out to end the threat.

     “We tried to make changes on Saturday but we just didn’t hit the ball at all,” Tumilty said. “We thought we’d have the advantage by throwing a different pitcher they hadn’t seen yet while we were facing the same pitcher. But it just didn’t work out. I think when she (Jones) got out of the bases loaded situation, it gave her all the confidence she needed to win that game. That was the key early on.”

     Tumilty said no one should underestimate Plano East as the state tournament gets under way this coming weekend and that she can be happy they lost to a good team.

     “It still hurts bad right now, but they were the better team and that’s all there was too it,” Tumilty said. “But I’m very proud of our girls. To be in the regional finals again is huge for this program, and I think with the amount of girls coming back next season … we may be able to make another decent run.”